Thursday, January 28, 2010

Tebow Bashing Suddenly Stylish

For four years, Tim Tebow was as close to perfect as you could be. He was treated like the second coming at Florida, and his play only justified more and more attention. A Heisman and two BCS titles later, Tebow is preparing to take the next step in his football career.

The move to the NFL is going to prove much bumpier than his jump from high school to college football was.

That said, this is getting a little ridiculous. From Sporting News Today:

Florida QB Tim Tebow’s mechanics have been well documented this week, but his mental struggles were apparen Wednesday. He was consistently late on throws, specifically on deep routes. He struggled to locate receivers at the top of his dropback, and he double-clutched almost every time before throwing downfield, telegraphing his passes.

They're not the only ones.

ESPN's Todd McShay has assailed Tebow on live television multiple times this week, making it abundantly clear that he doesn't think Tebow has a snowball's chance on South Beach of making it as a quarterback.

Don't pay much attention to the reports ripping Florida QB Tim Tebow. Everyone knew it was going to be a bit a process for him to adapt to the pro game, and it will be. But he has the arm strength, he just needs to tighten up his delivery a little bit and make quicker decisions.

I'm not saying Tebow is going to be a great NFL quarterback. Honestly, I don't know.

That's the point, though. Neither does anyone else.

McShay might sound confident on the air, but he's been wrong before. So has everyone else who has tried to break down players in the draft. It's an insanely inexact science.

So why is McShay so anxious to go on the air and rip into Tebow as a potential NFL player three months prior to the draft, and nearly eight months before he could play in a real NFL game?

It's all about moving the proverbial needle. There is one player in this draft who moves that needle. It's not Terrence Cody. It's not Eric Berry or Sam Bradford, either.

That player is Tim Tebow.

It's a double-edged sword. The attention helps him advance himself as a person, but it also can hinder his perception as a player. The more people break him down, the more work he has to do to build himself up in terms of his football skills.

The insistence on immediate reactions and needle-moving conversations is completely understandable, given the world we live in now. Unfortunately, what we're seeing with Tebow is the byproduct of four years of overexposure and hero worship from a portion of the football media.

Makes perfect sense, frankly, that people would try to tear him down at some point.